Top 10 Reasons Islam Might Not Be a Religion of Peace

Written by Don Feder
Thursday, August 31, 2006

 

A passenger revolt occurred on a Malaga-Manchester flight.  Vacationing Brits refused to fly with two Arabic-speaking men.  This came in the wake of arrests of 21 British-born Muslims who were plotting to blow up as many as 11 trans-Atlantic flights.

 

A spokesman for Britain’s opposition Tory party said the passengers panicked into “behaving irrationally.”  Fancy that, not wanting to fly with members of a faith whose adherents keep trying to blow things up.  Oh, how irrational!

 

Within days of this incident, a Lebanese student was arrested for trying to plant bombs on German trains.  In India, meanwhile, a group with alleged ties to al-Qaeda threatened to blow up the 17th century Taj Mahal.

 

If Muslims make travelers nervous, it’s not without cause.

 

Would you be more likely to have an anxiety attack at 20,000 feet if the passenger seated next to you was: A) An Irish nun saying the Rosary? B) A Mormon missionary in regulation white shirt and narrow, black tie? C) A Hari Krishna in a standard-issue saffron robe? or D) A bearded bloke of Middle Eastern complexion holding a well-thumbed Koran?

 

When you hear of a terrorist incident, is the first thought that pops into your head: Probably some crazy Muslim?  Guess what?  It probably was some crazy Muslim!

 

Guessing the religion of those who plant bombs, highjack planes, fire into crowds of civilians, take hostages, and murder hostages is the world’s ultimate no-brainer.

 

And yet our leaders, the media, and many of us pretend there’s absolutely no connection between psychopathic, ideological killers and the religion which exalts the slaughter of unbelievers.

 

To counter confusion here, a la Letterman, I humbly offer The Top 10 Reasons Why It’s Quite Possible That Islam Isn’t Exactly a Religion of Peace.

 

#1 While it’s certainly true that not all Muslims are terrorists, it’s equally true that most terrorists are Muslims.

 

Think about the really ghastly terrorist incidents over the past two decades: the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing (242 dead), the 1988 Pam Am 103 bombing (259 dead), the 1993 World Trade Center attack (6 dead, more than 1,000 injured), the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish Center (86 dead), the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam (291 dead, 5,000 wounded), the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole (17 dead), September 11, 2001 (over 3,000 killed), the 2002 Moscow theater hostage-taking (94 dead), the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis (344 dead), the 2004 Madrid train bombings (192 dead), the 2005 London underground bombings (56 dead) and the 2006 commuter train bombings in Mumbai–formerly Bombay–(at least 200 dead).

 

In each and every case, the killers were …?  That is correct, sir: Muslims!  What other religion condones savagery committed in its name?  Jesus said turn the other cheek.  Muhammed said cut off the other guy’s cheek.  The Torah says show kindness to strangers.  The Koran says: If you can’t convert them, kill them.

 

#2 Muslims don’t play well with other children.  Wherever there’s religious bloodshed anywhere in the world, it’s invariably Muslims versus someone else.  Could this be a coincidence?

 

Israel, Gaza and Lebanon – Muslims verses Jews. Kashmir – Muslims vs. Hindus. Kosovo/Bosnia – Muslims vs. Serbian Orthodox. Nigeria, the Sudan – Muslims versus Christians. Indonesia – Muslims vs. Christians. Myanmar – Muslims vs. Buddhists. The Northern Caucuses– Chechen Muslims against Russia Orthodox, and so on.

 

Inquiring minds want to know why the “religion of peace” can’t behave peaceably with any other religion.

 

Answer: Islam remains what it was at its beginning 1,300 years ago: a violent, expansionist faith that will tolerate no competitors.  What other religion has the concept of jihad (holy war) – the notion that if you die fighting for Allah you get 72 virgins (exhausting as that must be) in Paradise?  Muhammed started by eliminating the competition – annihilating Jewish tribes in the Arabian Peninsula. More than a millennium latter, it’s still business as usual for his successors.

 

3. For Muslims, violence and threats of violence are always the first resort to any perceived insult or injury.

 

Recall the Muslim response to Danish cartoons of their beloved prophet.  The Danish embassy in Beirut was burned to the ground. There were death threats against the cartoonists and the editors of papers that published the cartoons. (In London, protestors held signs proclaiming “Those who insult Islam should die” and “Europe is a disease. Islam is the cure.”)

 

In rioting in Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, 139 died.  Protestors were particularly offended by the implication of the cartoons – that Muhammed and his religion encourage murder and mayhem.  The irony of “They say Islam promotes violence?  For that they should die!” was lost on demonstrators.

 

4. Islam is virulently anti-Semitic.

 

Jews have been described as the miner’s canary of the world. Those who start with the Jews never stop there.  The 20th century’s mass murderers–the Nazis and communists–saw Jews as a special threat.  Hitler killed 6 million Jews–as well as millions of non-Jews.

 

The Koran connects genocide to the end times: “The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, so Jews will hide behind stones and trees and the Stone and the tree  will say ‘O Muslim, ‘O servant of God!  There is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.’” Muhammed called Jews “the descendants of apes and pigs.”

 

Every anti-Semitic canard in history has currency in the Muslim world, including the Blood Libel (that Jews murder non-Jewish children and use their blood to bake Passover matzo) and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (“exposing” a Jewish conspiracy to subdue humanity).

 

Jew-hatred is a staple of Muslim rhetoric.

 

In a recent interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram, Gen. Hamid Gul (former head of Pakistani Intelligence) said Mel Gibson was right, “Jews cause all the wars.” Egyptian Mufti Sheikh Ali Gum’a says the war in Lebanon once again exposed the “Hebrew entity” (Israel) as “the bloodsuckers… who prepare matzos from human blood.” In Britain, popular Islamic cleric Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal (a Jamaican convert) tells audiences “Jews should be killed… as by Hitler.”

 

When he met John Paul II in 2001, Syrian President-for-Life Bashar Assad told the pontiff that the Jews “try to kill all the principles of divine faith with the same mentality of betraying Jesus and torturing him.” 

 

And Adb al-Rahman al-Sudais, sheikh of Mecca’s Grand Mosque, in Islam’s holiest city, calls Jews “the scum of the earth,” and calls for the genocide of a people who are, in the sheikh’s words, “an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil and corruption.”

 

Muslims really have a hard time deciding whether the Holocaust: 1) Never happened 2) Is grossly exaggerated or 3) Didn’t go far enough.

 

#5 – Public Opinion in the Muslim World Is Scary.

 

Muslim public opinion can be summarized as acid hatred, chauvinism and revenge fantasies–leavened with paranoia.  In the five years since 9/11, polls consistently show that, irrefutable evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, worldwide, a majority of Muslims believe the World Trade Center attack couldn’t possibly have been committed by Arab Muslims.

 

Naturally, they attribute the crime to “Zionists.”  If someone wrote a book titled “How to Fly a Plane Into a Skyscraper Whilst Using Human Blood to Bake Matzos: A Zionist Training Manual,” it would top the Tehran Bestsellers List.

 

#6 –Generally, the more Muslim a nation, the more lunatic and dangerous it is.

 

Think Iran.  Think Saudi Arabia.  Think Afghanistan while the Taliban was in power.

 

Think of the fate of women in these regimes–consigned to the status of breeding stock.  Think of their attitudes toward democracy, civil liberties and minority rights:  No way, Jamal.

 

As a rule, the more a nation is governed by Islamic law and customs, the more it hates the West, supports terrorism (Iran’s support for Hezbollah, Syria’s support for Hamas, Al Qaeda training camps in Taliban Afghanistan.  Radical mosques in the United States financed by the Saudis), and covets weapons of mass jihad (witness Iran’s nuclear program).

 

If Islam is the religion of peace, where is its St. Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa? Where are the Islamic equivalents of the Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses?

 

Far from making rulers more enlightened, Islam specializes in the mass production of Ayatollah Khomeinis, Osama bin Ladens, Mullah Omars, Hafez Assads, and Saddam Husseins.

 

#7 – When a young Muslim becomes more involved with his religion, his thoughts often stray to suicide bombing.

 

I was in London when the latest terrorist conspiracy went down.  On the evening news, I heard a BBC reporter interviewing a neighbor of one of the suspects.  “He was a good lad,” the neighbor opined.  “Played football” (British soccer). “Recently, he became very involved with his religion” (hint: not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).

 

How often have we heard those fatal words?  Born-again Christians witness and do good works.  Born-again Muslims work with liquid explosives.

 

Converts to a cause are usually the most enthusiastic.  Paul became Christianity’s first missionary and foremost proselytizer.

 

Converts to Islam frequently end up shooting total strangers (John Muhammad and Lee Malvo), try to detonate planes with explosives in their shoes (Richard Reid), fight against their country (American Taliban John Walker Lindh), and frag fellow GIs (Hassan Akbar ). When was the last time you heard of a Jewish convert going after civilians with a high-powered rifle, or a Catholic convert waging jihad to avenge Thomas Moore?

 

Religion usually makes people better (kinder, more compassionate, and more tolerant).  The religion of peace is the exception to the rule. You might say that Islam is to religion as rap is to music.

 

#8 – Islam isn’t minority friendly.

 

In Freedom House’s 2006 Global Survey, of the eight countries with the worst human rights records, five are Muslim:  Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Libya, Syria and Sudan.  The other three–Cuba, North Korea and Burma–are communist dictatorships. Cuba and North Korea are frequently aligned with radical Muslim regimes.

 

Which would you rather be: a Muslim living in Tel Aviv or a Jew living in Tehran?  A Coptic Christian in Egypt or an Egyptian Muslim in Rome?  An Orthodox Serb in Muslim Kosovo or a Turk in Germany?

 

Islam has the concept of the dhimmi (non-Moslem living under Islam), which is several steps below blacks in the Jim Crow South–though slightly better than Jews in Nazi Germany.

 

#9 – Where Have All the Moderate Muslims Gone–Long Time Passing?

 

If suicide bombers are radical Muslims, apologists for suicide bombers must be moderate Muslims.  (In a letter to Tony Blair following the unraveling of the latest plot, 40 Muslim community leaders–including six members of Parliament–claimed Britain’s foreign policy gave “ammunition to extremists.”)

 

If someone slaughtered hundreds of innocents in the name of Christianity, everyone from the Pope and Billy Graham to your parish priest or local pastor would denounce the crime as an obscenity–without reference to the fall of Constantinople.

 

Hardly a day goes by that evil isn’t perpetrated in the name of Islam somewhere in the world.  When it comes to denouncing same, moderate Muslims are mostly AWOL.

 

Occasionally, we’ll hear from a Muslim not mired in the Dark Ages.  Usually, they’re wondering where all of the other moderate Muslims are.  One is Irshad Manji, a fellow at Yale University and the author of “The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith.”

 

Ms Manji can author such a book while safely ensconced in New Haven.  If she wrote a book suggesting–or even hinting–that Islam is less than perfection, while residing anywhere in the Muslim world, she’d be dead.  In fact, in many parts of the Islamic world, a woman can get in serious trouble for reading a book.

 

# 10 – Islam is bent on global conquest.

 

“Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant.  The Koran … should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.” – Omar Ahmad, founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

 

“Islam will return to Europe.  The conquest need not necessarily be by the sword.  Perhaps we will conquer these lands without armies.  We want an army of preachers and teachers who will present Islam in all languages and all dialects.” Dr. Al-Qaradawi, Egyptian-born, Qatar-based spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

“The Muslims are required to raise the banner of jihad in order to make the Word of Allah supreme in the world.” -posting on the website of the Islamic Affairs Department of the Saudi government. (These oil-rich fascists control roughly 80% of U.S. mosques.)

 

“Islam is advancing according to a steady plan, to the point that tens of thousands of Muslims have joined the American army and Islam is the second largest religion in America. America will be destroyed. But we must be patient.” -Saudi Professor Nassar bin Suleiman al-Omar on al-Majd TV.

 

Within 100 years of Muhammed’s death, Islam had conquered the Middle East and spread across North Africa before it was finally stopped in southern France.  Today, due to immigration, one in every 10 Frenchmen is a Muslim and an estimated 50,000 convert to Islam each year.

 

In Britain, with 1.5 million Muslims, attendance at mosques is higher than at services for the Church of England.  Islam is spreading down both coasts of Africa–in Nigeria, Kenya, the Sudan, and Ethiopia–as well as in the Balkans, former Soviet republics, Asia, and the Philippines.

 

Whether they bury us with swords, explosives, or immigration and procreation, the fate Islam has in store for us is the same.

 

If you don’t get it, you’re not paying attention. Or, perhaps your religion (liberalism) blinds you to the truth.

 

Islam is: A) A religion of peace B) A religion of rest in peace C) A religion that leaves you in pieces or D) A religion that wants a piece of what you have now–the rest later?

About the Writer: Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer and syndicated columnist, currently making a modest living as a political/media consultant and free-lance writer. He’s the author of “Who’s Afraid of The Religious Right” and “A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America.” His writings can be found at http://www.donfeder.com. 

Hizbullah presents: How to recruit children

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3297896,00.html

Larry Miller on the Situation in the Middle East

Larry Miller on the Situation in the Middle East
Posted: Thursday, May 9, 2002

A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don’t get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need. Don’t thank me. I’m a giver.

Here we go: the Palestinians want their own country. There’s just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians.

It’s a made up word.

Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like “Wiccan,” “Palestinian” sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Before the Israelis won the land in war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, and there were no “Palestinians” then, and the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no “Palestinians” then. As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the “Palestinians,” weeping for their deep bond with their lost “land” and “nation.” So for the sake of honesty, let’s not use the word “Palestinian” any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone points out they’re being taped. Instead, let’s call them what they are: “Other Arabs From The Same General Area Who Are In Deep Denial About Never Being Able To Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death.”

I know that’s a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: “Adjacent Jew-Haters.”

Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don’t. They could’ve had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living. That’s no fun.

No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course-that’s where the real fun is-but mostly they want Israel.

Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel-or “The Zionist Entity” as their textbooks call it-for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they’re the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God’s Earth, and if you’ve ever been around God’s Earth, you know that’s really saying something. It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim MidEast.

Unless I’m missing something, the Arabs haven’t given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one. Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it.

And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea?

Oh, that? We were just kidding.

My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshalling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab state into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents?

Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death.

Mr. Bush, God bless him, is walking a tightrope. I understand that with vital operations coming up against Iraq and others, it’s in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can’t be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of supermodels who’ve just had their drugs taken away. However, in any big-picture strategy, there’s always a danger of losing moral weight. We’ve already lost some. After September 11 our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful.

Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day) start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint. If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan. (Hey, wait a minute, that’s actually not such a bad idea… uh, that is, what a horrible thought, yeah, horrible.)

America’s Muslims Aren’t as Assimilated as You Think From the Washington POST

America’s Muslims Aren’t as Assimilated as You Think
By Geneive Abdo
Sunday, August 27, 2006; B03

If only the Muslims in Europe — with their hearts focused on the Islamic world and their carry-on liquids poised for destruction in the West — could behave like the well-educated, secular and Americanizing Muslims in the United States, no one would have to worry.

So runs the comforting media narrative that has developed around the approximately 6 million Muslims in the United States, who are often portrayed as well-assimilated and willing to leave their religion and culture behind in pursuit of American values and lifestyle. But over the past two years, I have traveled the country, visiting mosques, interviewing Muslim leaders and speaking to Muslim youths in universities and Islamic centers from New York to Michigan to California — and I have encountered a different truth. I found few signs of London-style radicalism among Muslims in the United States. At the same time, the real story of American Muslims is one of accelerating alienation from the mainstream of U.S. life, with Muslims in this country choosing their Islamic identity over their American one.

A new generation of American Muslims — living in the shadow of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — is becoming more religious. They are more likely to take comfort in their own communities, and less likely to embrace the nation’s fabled melting pot of shared values and common culture.

Part of this is linked to the resurgence of Islam over the past several decades, a growth as visible in Western Europe and the United States as it is in Egypt and Morocco. But the Sept. 11 attacks also had the dual effect of making American Muslims feel isolated in their adopted country, while pushing them to rediscover their faith.

From schools to language to religion, American Muslims are becoming a people apart. Young, first-generation American Muslim women — whose parents were born in Egypt, Pakistan and other Islamic countries — are wearing head scarves even if their mothers had left them behind; increasing numbers of young Muslims are attending Islamic schools and lectures; Muslim student associations in high schools and at colleges are proliferating; and the role of the mosque has evolved from strictly a place of worship to a center for socializing and for learning Arabic and Urdu as well as the Koran.

The men and women I spoke to — all mosque-goers, most born in the United States to immigrants — include students, activists, imams and everyday working Muslims. Almost without exception, they recall feeling under siege after Sept. 11, with FBI agents raiding their mosques and homes, neighbors eyeing them suspiciously and television programs portraying Muslims as the new enemies of the West.

Such feelings led them, they say, to adopt Islamic symbols — the hijab , or head covering, for women and the kufi , or cap, for men — as a defense mechanism. Many, such as Rehan, whom I met at a madrassa (religious school) in California with her husband, Ramy, also felt compelled to deepen their faith.

“After I covered, I changed,” Rehan told me. “I felt I wanted to give people a good impression of Islam. I wanted people to know how happy I am to be Muslim.” But not everyone understood, she said, recalling an incident in a supermarket in 2003: “The man next to me in the vegetable section said, ‘You’d be much more beautiful without that thing on your head. It’s demeaning to women.’ ” But to her the head scarf symbolized piety, not oppression.

A group of young college-educated women at the Dix mosque in Dearborn, Mich., described the challenges many Muslims face as they carve out their identity in the United States. I spoke with them in the winter of 2004, after they had been to the mosque one Sunday for a halaqa (a study circle) focused on integrating faith and daily life. They were in their twenties: Hayat, a psychologist; Ismahan, a computer scientist; and Fatma, a third-grade teacher.

Hayat said veiling was easier for her than it had been for her sister,

10 years her senior, because Hayat had more Muslim peers when she reached high school and felt far less pressure to conform to American ways. When she went on to the University of Michigan, she was surrounded for the first time by young Muslims who dared to show pride in their religion in a non-Muslim setting.

Ismahan recalled similar experiences. In elementary school, she had tried to fit in. As an adult, though, “I know I don’t have to fit in,” she said. “I don’t think Muslims have to assimilate. We are not treated like Americans. At work, I get up from my desk and go to pray. I thought I would face opposition from my boss. Even before I realized he didn’t mind, I thought, ‘I have a right to be a Muslim, and I don’t have to assimilate.’ ”

Fatma described the mosque as central to her future: “What made me sane during years of public high school,” she said, “was coming to the halaqa every Sunday.” Fatma was also quick to distinguish herself from other young Muslim women who embrace American mores. “Some Muslims do anything to fit in. They drink. They date. My biggest fear is that I might assimilate to the American lifestyle so much that my modesty goes out the window.”

Imam Zaid Shakir — who teaches at San Francisco’s Zaytuna Institute, America’s only true madrassa — refers to such young Muslims as the “rejectionist generation.” They are rejectionist, he says, because they turn their backs not only on absolutist religious interpretations, but also on America’s secular ways. Many of these young American Muslims look to Shakir (and to celebrated Zaytuna founder Hamza Yusuf) for guidance on how to live pious lives in the United States.

I spent several days at one of the institute’s “mobile madrassas,” this one in San Jose, and watched hundreds of young Muslim professionals sit on cushioned folding chairs and listen intently as Yusuf delivered his lecture. “Everywhere I go, I see Muslims,” he told them. “Go to the gas station and the airport. Muslims are present in the United States, and that was not true 20 years ago. There are more Muslims living outside the Dar al-Islam [Islamic countries, or literally the House of Islam] than ever. So we have to be strategic in our thinking, because people who are our enemies are strategic in their thinking.”

The “enemies” Yusuf referred to that day were not non-Muslims, but rather those who use Islam as a rationale for violence. For the students at this madrassa and for many Muslims I interviewed, their strategy focuses on public displays of their faith.

Being ambassadors of Islam is daring behavior when you consider that American Muslims live in a country where so many people are ignorant of — if not hostile to — their faith. In a Gallup poll this year, when U.S. respondents were asked what they admire about the Muslim world, the most common response was “nothing” (33 percent); the second most common was “I don’t know” (22 percent).

Despite contemporary public opinion — or perhaps because of it — Muslim Americans consider Islam their defining characteristic, beyond any national identity. In this way, their experience in the United States resembles that of their co-religionists in Europe, where mosques are also growing, Islamic schools are being built, and practicing the faith is the center of life, particularly for the young generation. In Europe and the United States, young Muslims are unifying around popular imams they believe understand the challenges they face in Western societies; these leaders include Yusuf in the United States and Amer Khaled, an Egyptian-born imam who lives in Britain. Thousands of young Muslims attend their lectures.

In my years of interviews, I found few indications of homegrown militancy among American Muslims. Indeed, thus far, they have proved they can compete economically with other Americans. Although the unemployment rate for Muslims in Britain is far higher than for most other groups, the average annual income of a Muslim household surpasses that of average American households. Yet, outside the workplace, Muslims retreat into the comfort zone of their mosques and Islamic schools.

It is too soon to say where the growing alienation of American Muslims will lead, but it seems clear that the factors contributing to it will endure. U.S. foreign policy persists in dividing Muslim and Western societies, making it harder still for Americans to realize that there is a difference between their Muslim neighbor and the plotter in London or the kidnapper in Baghdad.

On August 4, 2006, the Al-Hesbah website published instructions on “How to Kill a Crusader in the Arabian Peninsula.” The document was signed by Amer Al-Najdi, and dated June 15, 2006

Special Dispatch Series – No. 1263
August 25, 2006	No.1263
Islamist Al-Hesbah Website Plan of Action for the Jihad Fighter: How to Kill a Westerner in the Arabian Peninsula On August 4, 2006, the Al-Hesbah website published instructions on “How to Kill a Crusader in the Arabian Peninsula.” The document was signed by Amer Al-Najdi, and dated June 15, 2006. Al-Najdi instructs his readers in some possible ways to kill a Westerner, from choosing the victim through following him through the stage of the actual killing. The following are excerpts from the document: [1] “Before Carrying Out the Operation, Pray for Guidance” “Below I will explain the jihadist way of action and the security measures to be employed by the jihad fighter [when he wants to kill a Westerner]: “First of all, before carrying out the operation, pray [to Allah] to guide you on the good path. “[Regarding your] external appearance – Try as much as possible to look like someone who is not religious. For example, wear [a kuffiyeh] with an ‘aqal instead of a turban, and wear cheap dark glasses during the day and regular glasses at night. Your clothes must be long, and try if at all possible for them to be heel-length, or longer; don’t be afraid of this. Wear a sport suit or a regular suit. Similarly, it is greatly preferable to be shaven. “[Regarding] the items or the clothing in [your] car – Immediately get rid of everything in your car that indicates that you are religious, such as jihad cassettes, small papers such as post-its… The most important thing there must not be anything in the car indicating that the owner is a religious man… so that if the dogs of the security [apparatuses], the emergency [apparatuses], or the other [apparatuses] stop you in a suspicious place and search your car they will find nothing proving that you are religious, and will release you right away. “While you are carrying out the operation, be careful not to take your cell phone with you – especially if it has a camera – so that it won’t cause you, or your friends whose numbers are in the phone, problems with unknown consequences. “Some Ways to Find a Crusader [i.e. a Westerner] or a Dog From the Security Apparatus “In order to carry out the operation when the time comes, you must have a weapon (a pistol or a submachine gun) or a good knife, if you are interested in slaughtering this infidel or this [Saudi] dog… “[How to find a target] in the Crusader settlements [i.e. compounds] that are found everywhere: “The first method: At about seven AM, pass by the settlement and check only how these Crusaders leave it, and what road they take. Beware, my jihad-fighting brother, to pass by only once, because the military dogs at the gates [of the settlement] might suspect you and detain you. “Two or three days later, pass by the [same] settlement, but don’t go near it as you did the first time. That is, go straight to the road where [the settlement residents] go, and wait for them by the side of the road, and when you see one of these Crusaders, follow him. “It is best to change vehicles each time, if you can. While following the Crusader, be very careful not to be exposed. For the most part, especially these days, they are feeling safer, because there are not many operations against them. But the jihad wave is approaching, and Allah will conceal this matter from them…. “When [the Westerner you have selected] stops at a traffic light, try to be behind him, in the same lane, with at least two cars between you and him, or alongside him, but not exactly alongside him. While waiting at the traffic light, refrain from casual glances, and try to occupy yourself with something (such as arranging your ‘akal…). When you two turn onto the highway, try to pass the infidel on the right or left, and then slow down so that he will pass you, so as to remove suspicion for the next time. “When you and the infidel move to the secondary road, and you are following him and there is no one on the road but the two of you, first slow down and pretend you’re looking for a shop or a place or a person, by turning your head right and left as if searching for something, [thus showing] that this infidel does not interest you at all. “A second way to find [a Westerner]: Sometimes there is no need to follow the infidel first thing in the morning; often we see them next to traffic lights or at the big marketplaces… (such as Karfour, Extra, and so on); often, they shop there, particularly in the morning, between 9:30 and 12:00. When you see [an infidel in one of these places], follow him carefully, and you will [quickly] notice that for the most part he will be going to a settlement or to a house in one of the neighborhoods… “A third way to find [a Westerner]: Sometimes when you, the jihad fighter, are sitting with your colleague or with family, someone comes and says: ‘We have an American working for the company, who receives [a salary of] 150,000…’ When you hear this, you must find out the following things: “1) If you know where your colleague works – fine. But if you don’t know where he works and where his company is, immediately address your colleague, saying: ‘That’s not true, this [salary] is exaggerated.’ He will immediately say, ‘You’re wrong, and I can prove it.’ Tell him, ‘I know someone who works for such-and-such a company (give a name) and they have an American who gets [paid] 40,000, and their company is in (give a place). Then tell him, ‘Your company is probably in the such-and-such area (north, for example).’ And he will reply: ‘No, our company is in such-and-such a place.’ If the description so far is [still] unclear to you, say to him: ‘Oh… next to (give the name of a place)?’ He will reply, ‘No, our company is in such-and-such a place’ exactly. Then say to him, ‘This American you have must be a director if he gets [paid] such a sum,’ and then he will tell you what this infidel does [in the company]. Then say, ‘Surely he has a fancy car if he gets such a salary,’ and then he will tell you the kind of car. Thus you have gotten the information that will help you in the future, without your colleague or anyone around him noticing. Then pretend that the matter doesn’t interest you, and try to change the subject immediately. “2) If you know where your colleague works but you are interested in information about this infidel, question him in the manner I described above, and take care that they don’t notice that you are looking for this infidel. “How to Kill the Infidel and What Security Measures to Take “The best way to carry this out is to forge an ID card and a work ID, in order to rent a car. If you can’t do this, act as follows: “1) Take the license plate from any car that is the same model as your car. Be sure that the region from which you take the license plate is far away from the region in which you live. For example, if your car is a white Camry, look for a white Camry that is far from the region [in which you live], and take its license plate. “2) Take the car of one of the ordinary people, in some easy way, and carry out the operation that day using [this car]. Then leave the [car] in a public place, so that the infidels will find it and return it to its owners… “3) After obtaining a suitable car, kill the Crusader, in accordance with the circumstances – if the Crusader works at a company where you work, or at a company where someone you know works, strike him on his day off, or somewhere far from [where the company is located]…; if the Crusader lives next door to you or near you, and you want to kill him, it is best to kill him when he is outside work, so as to distance you from suspicion… “4) Take care that the windows of the car you use to carry out the [killing] operation are somewhat dark; this will help you when you stop at traffic lights. “5) When you carry out the [killing] operation and make your escape, travel a route that you have planned in advance. It is best [to go] by the highway for five minutes, and then to move to secondary roads and then to neighborhoods, so as to distance yourself from the place of the operation… [In order to avoid being followed,] look behind you (and check) if anyone is tailing you. “6) After… [you have evaded being followed] park the car somewhere, [where] you have at your disposal another vehicle, extremely clean, that you will use to return home safely. “7) Take care not to say a word. The tongue is what will lead you to the infidels’ prison. Many brothers have been arrested because they spoke near people. “It is desirable to film the operation so it can be presented by the media, so that it has a broader impact. “After the operation succeeds, you will realize that this is very simple, and that there is no need for an entire squad [to carry it out] but that one, two, or three people are enough… “You can look through the Mu’askar Al-Battar and Sawt Al-Jihad publications, [to learn from them] important things that I may not have clarified here… “Your brother Amer Al-Najdi “Arabian Peninsula “Thursday “The 19th day of the fifth month, 1427 [June 15, 2006].” [1] Alhesbah.org, June 15, 2006.

Radical Group May Declare Islamic Caliphate in Gaza

Radical Group May Declare Islamic Caliphate in Gaza
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
August 24, 2006

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Encouraged by Hizballah’s perceived victory in Lebanon, another radical Islamic party may declare an Islamic caliphate in the Gaza Strip on Friday, another step in its effort to see Islam rule the world.

The Hizb ut-Tahrir (Liberation Party) advocates replacing all Muslim governments in the world with one Islamic leader who would then declare the establishment of a worldwide Islamic caliphate.

Although the move has been described as largely symbolic, it highlights a growing trend among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, analysts say.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international Sunni Islamic movement, has gained popularity with Palestinians since Hizballah put up more of a fight in southern Lebanon than Israel and the world expected.

The group rallied thousands of Palestinians to take part in a demonstration in Gaza City on Tuesday, which marked the anniversary of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire (the Islamic Turkish Empire that ruled the Middle East for some 400 years).

According to the Jerusalem Post, protesters called for Israel to be wiped off the map and they called for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate to rule the Palestinian Authority.

One observer, who asked not to be named, said the idea of declaring a caliphate is more symbolic than substantial – a sign of increasing support for Hizb ut-Tahrir, which few people took seriously before this. Many people were surprised at the turnout for the rally, he said.

Jordanian officials recently arrested members of the group in Jordan, after their leader, Ramzi Sawalhah, called for the Jordanian monarchy to be replaced by an Islamic caliphate.

Founded in Jordanian-controlled East Jerusalem in the early 1950s, Hizb ut-Tahrir has now spread to some 40 countries, including the U.S. Because the group believes in one Islamic leader, it has tended to shun the idea of becoming involved in local politics.

Islamic expert Dr. Yoram Kahati of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism said that although the group operates worldwide, Arab states and others have outlawed the group.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, however, was unsuccessful in banning the group in England, where it is believed to have its headquarters.

“They are not very active,” said Kahati. During the years of the Palestinian Authority they opposed the peace process, he said.

Kahati downplayed the significance of a caliphate declaration in the Gaza Strip, saying it would be “meaningless” since most people there are more worried about being able to buy food for their families.

The Hamas government there could have two reactions: either seize the opportunity or dismiss it as irresponsible, he said.

Hizb ut-Tahrir was one of the first groups to develop the radical Islamic ideology that affected many other better-known groups that are active today, said Kahati. Recently, the group did declare itself an official political party in Lebanon, he said.

The group believes in bringing about change through indoctrination and not necessarily through force, said Kahati, though it is not opposed to force. “Only once they come to the conclusion that they have enough power, then they support taking [over] by force,” he said.

In May 2003, Dr. Ariel Cohen described Hizb ut-Tahrir as “an emerging threat to American interests in Central and South Asia and the Middle East” in an article on the Heritage Foundation Website.

“Its proclaimed goal is jihad against America and the overthrow of existing political regimes and their replacement with a caliphate, a theocratic dictatorship based on the shari’a (religious Islamic law). The model for Hizb ut Tahrir is the “righteous” caliphate, a militaristic Islamic state that existed in the 7th and 8th centuries under Mohammad and his first four successors, known as the “righteous Caliphs,” said Cohen.

On what is described as the official website of Hizb ut-Tahrir the group said it was founded “in order to resume the Islamic way of life and carry the Islamic call to the world.”

A commentary on the site described as “political” and dated July 25, 2006 (while the Hizballah-Israel war was in full swing and Hizballah rockets were raining down on Israel) says that weapons should be acquired to vanquish Israel and its allies.

“If ‘Israel’ is capable of hitting targets through its air force, then the intensive acquisition of missiles, especially if their delivery systems are upgraded to help them track their targets accurately, will paralyze and deter the entity of the Jews. Then they can be confronted and vanquished together with those who stand behind them…

“It has become apparent to anyone with eyesight that the armies of the Muslims are capable of curbing the freak entity of “Israel” and even wiping it out of existence if they had the true resolve and if they acquired the willpower and the effective weapons to fight their battle against the enemies of the [the people],” it said.

The religion of peace web site a must read

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

Iran test fired a new submarine-to-surface missile

Aug 27, 10:07 AM (ET)By ALI AKBAR DAREINI TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran test fired a new submarine-to-surface missile during war games in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, a show of military might amid a standoff with the West over its nuclear activities. A brief video clip showed the long-range missile, called Thaqeb, or Saturn, exiting the water and hitting a target on the water’s surface within less than a mile. The test came as part of large-scale military exercises that began Aug. 19. “The army successfully test fired a top speed long-range sub-to-surface missile off the Persian Gulf,” the navy commander, Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki, said on state-run television. Iran routinely has held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and to test equipment including missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers. But Sunday’s firing of the missile came as Iran remains defiant just five days before a deadline imposed by the U.N. Security Council for Tehran to suspend the enrichment of uranium, which can produce both reactor fuel and material usable in nuclear warheads. Iran said last week it is open to negotiations but it refused any immediate suspension, calling the deadline illegal. Tehran has expressed worry about Israeli threats to destroy its nuclear facilities, which the West contends could be used to make a bomb but which Iran insists are for the peaceful purpose of generating electricity. The Islamic country also is concerned about the U.S. military presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan. In an advance for Iran’s weapons industry, the Thaqeb is the country’s first sub-fired missile that leaves the water to strike its target, adding to the country’s repertoire of weapons that can hit ships in the Gulf. Iran‘s current arsenal includes several types of torpedoes – including the “Hoot,” Farsi for “whale,” which was tested for the first time in April, capable of moving at some 223 mph, up to four times faster than a normal torpedo. Kouchaki said the Thaqeb could be fired from any vessel and could escape enemy radar. He said it was built based on domestic know-how, although outside experts say much of the country’s missile technology originated from other countries like Russia and China. He did not give the weapon’s range. It did not appear capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Iran already is equipped with the Shahab-3 missile, which means “shooting star” in Farsi, and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. An upgraded version of the ballistic missile has a range of more than 1,200 miles and can reach Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East. Last year, former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Tehran successfully had tested a solid fuel motor for the Shahab-3, which was considered a technological breakthrough for the country’s military. Solid fuel dramatically increases the accuracy of a missile while a liquid fuel missile is not very accurate in hitting targets. Iran’s military test-fired a series of missiles during large-scale war games in the Persian Gulf in March and April, including a missile it claimed was not detectable by radar and can use multiple warheads to hit several targets simultaneously. After decades of relying on foreign weapons purchases, Iran’s military has been working to boost its domestic production of armaments. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane, the government has said. It announced in early 2005 that it had begun production of torpedoes

[Pew Poll on] How Muslims Think

 

by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
June 27, 2006
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3706

[NY Sun title: “Survey of World’s Muslims Yields Dismaying Results”]

How do Muslims worldwide think?

To find out, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press carried out a large-scale attitudinal survey this spring. Titled “The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other,” it interviewed Muslims in two batches of countries: six of them with long-standing, majority-Muslim populations (Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey) and four of them in Western Europe with new, minority Muslim populations (France, Germany, Britain, and Spain).

The survey, which also looks at Western views of Muslims, yielded some dismaying but not altogether surprising results. Its themes can be grouped under three rubrics.

A proclivity to conspiracy theories: In not one Muslim population polled does a majority believe that Arabs carried out the attacks of September 11, 2001, on America. The proportions range from a mere 15% in Pakistan holding Arabs responsible, to 48% among French Muslims. Confirming recent negative trends in Turkey, the number of Turks who point the finger at Arabs has declined to 16% today from 46% in 2002. In other words, in every one of these 10 Muslim communities, a majority views September 11 as a hoax perpetrated by the American government, Israel, or some other agency.

Likewise, Muslims are widely prejudiced against Jews, ranging from 28% unfavorable ratings among French Muslims to 98% in Jordan (which, despite the monarchy’s moderation, has a majority Palestinian Arab population). Further, Muslims in certain countries (especially Egypt and Jordan) see Jews conspiratorially, as being responsible for bad relations between Muslims and Westerners.

Conspiracy theories also pertain to larger topics. Asked, “What is most responsible for Muslim nations’ lack of prosperity?” between 14% (in Pakistan) and 43% (in Jordan) blame the policies of America and other Western states, as opposed to indigenous problems, such as a lack of democracy or education, or the presence of corruption or radical Islam.

This conspiracism points to a widespread unwillingness in the umma to deal with realities, preferring the safer bromides of plots, schemes, and intrigues. It also exposes major problems adjusting to modernity.

Support for terrorism: All the Muslim populations polled display a solid majority of support for Osama bin Laden. Asked whether they have confidence in him, Muslims replied positively, ranging between 8% (in Turkey) and 72% (in Nigeria). Likewise, suicide bombing is popular. Muslims who call it justified range from 13% (in Germany) to 69% (in Nigeria). These appalling numbers suggest that terrorism by Muslims has deep roots and will remain a danger for years to come.

British and Nigerian Muslims are most alienated: Britain stands out as a paradoxical country. Non-Muslims there have strikingly more favorable views of Islam and Muslims than elsewhere in the West; for example, only 32% of the British sample view Muslims as violent, significantly less than their counterparts in France (41%), Germany (52%), or Spain (60%). In the Muhammad cartoon dispute, Britons showed more sympathy for the Muslim outlook than did other Europeans. More broadly, Britons blame Muslims less for the poor state of Western-Muslim relations.

But British Muslims return the favor with the most malign anti-Western attitudes found in Europe. Many more of them regard Westerners as violent, greedy, immoral, and arrogant than do their counterparts in France, Germany, and Spain. In addition, whether asked about their attitudes toward Jews, responsibility for September 11, or the place of women in Western societies, their views are notably more extreme.

The situation in Britain reflects the “Londonistan” phenomenon, whereby Britons preemptively cringe and Muslims respond to this weakness with aggression.

Nigerian Muslims generally have the most belligerent views on such issues as the state of Western-Muslim relations, the supposed immorality and arrogance of Westerners, and support for Mr. bin Laden and suicide terrorism. This extremism results, no doubt, from the violent state of Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria.

Ironically, most Muslim alienation is found in those countries where Muslims are either the most or the least accommodated, suggesting that a middle path is best – where Muslims do not win special privileges, as in Britain, nor are they in an advanced state of hostility, as in Nigeria.

Overall, the Pew survey sends an undeniable message of crisis from one end to the other of the Muslim world.

The Religion of Peace?

The Religion of Peace? By Andrew G. Bostom Frontpagemag.com During the discussion period after a recent talk by the courageous secular Muslim “apostate” Wafa Sultan, Judea Pearl, father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (who was barbarously murdered by pious Muslim terrorists), alluded to the Koran’s “verses of peace”—which certain votaries of Islam uphold as the religion’s exclusive legacy. According to an observer at the event, Judea Pearl derided Ms. Sultan’s critical view of Islam by further contending that the Koran’s bellicose and brutal verses were mere “cultural baggage”, akin to “similar” pronouncements in the Old Testament. The comparison was naïve, if not absurd. Naïve because the Koran’s “verses of peace”, frequently cited by both Muslim and non-Muslim apologists, most notably verse 2:256, “There is no compulsion in religion”, were all abrogated by the so-called verses of the sword. These abrogating verses of the sword recommend beheading or otherwise murdering and mutilating non-Muslims, and Muslim apostates. According to classical Muslim Koranic commentators verse 9:5 (perhaps the most infamous verse of the sword), “Slay the idolators wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush…”, for example, cancels 124 verses that promote patience and toleration. The sacralized Islamic sources indicate that as the Muslim prophet Muhammad accrued political and military power, he evolved from a proselytizer and persuader, to a warrior (i.e., a prototype jihadist; see: The Prophet Muhammad as a Jihad Model), and dictatorial legislator. Thus the sword and other similar Koranic verses—as per the linkage between Muhammad’s biography and the Koranic narrative—capture the Muslim prophet at his most dogmatic, belligerent, and intolerant. Muslims are enjoined to fight and murder nonbelievers—woe unto those who shirk these campaigns—but those who are killed fighting for the one true religion, i.e., Islam, will be rewarded amply in the afterlife. A sampling of such verses, which established these eternal injunctions, are included below: 47:4: “Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds” 9:29: “Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.” 4:76: “Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the Shaitan. Fight therefore against the friends of the Shaitan; surely the strategy of the Shaitan is weak.” 8:12: “When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.” 8:38-39: “Say to the Unbelievers, if (now) they desist (from Unbelief), their past would be forgiven them; but if they persist, the punishment of those before them is already (a matter of warning for them). And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere; but if they cease, verily Allah doth see all that they do.” 9:39: “If you do not go forth, He will chastise you with a painful chastisement and bring in your place a people other than you, and you will do Him no harm; and Allah has power over all things.” 4:74: “Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world’s life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or be he victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward.” 9:111: “Surely Allah has bought of the believers their persons and their property for this, that they shall have the garden; they fight in Allah’s way, so they slay and are slain; a promise which is binding on Him in the Taurat and the Injeel and the Quran; and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? Rejoice therefore in the pledge which you have made; and that is the mighty achievement.” As Ibn Warraq notes, aptly (p.69): …“tolerance” has been abrogated by “intolerance” And this doctrine of abrogation, necessitated by the many contradictions which abound in the Koran, originates as putatively taught by Muhammad, himself, at verse 2:106: “Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?” . This verse, in combination with verses* 16:101, 22:52, and 87:6, was elaborated into a formal system of abrogation (naskh in Arabic) by the greatest classical Muslim Koranic scholars and jurists, which entailed (p.72), …the suppression of a ruling without the suppression of the wording. That is to say, the earlier ruling is still to be found in the Koran, and is still to this day recited in worship, but it no longer has any legal force [emphasis added] But it is only when viewed in the larger context of the uniquely Islamic institution of jihad war—which derives substantively from the abrogating Koranic sword verses—that Judea Pearl’s naïve equation to “similar” verses from the Old Testament, becomes entirely fatuous. From the bellicose verses in the Koran, expounded upon in the hadith (the words and deeds of Muhammad as recorded by pious Muslim transmitters), Muslim jurists and theologians formulated the Islamic institution of permanent jihad war against non-Muslims to bring the world under Islamic rule (Shari’a law). Since its earliest inception, through the present, jihad has been central to the thought and writings of prominent Muslim theologians and jurists. The precepts and regulations elucidated in the 7th through 9th centuries are immutable in the Muslim theological-juridical system, and they have remained essentially unchallenged by the majority of contemporary Muslims. The jihad is intrinsic to the sacred Muslim texts, including the divine Koranic revelation—”the uncreated word of Allah”. The Old Testament sanctions the Israelites conquest of Canaan—a limited domain—it does not sanction a permanent war to submit all the nations of humanity to a uniform code of religious law. Similarly, the tactics of warfare are described in the Old Testament, unlike the Koran, in very circumscribed and specific contexts. Moreover, while the Old Testament clearly condemns certain inhumane practices of paganism, it never invoked an eternal war against all of the world’s pagan peoples. Uninformed ecumenical zeal in search of a fantasy Islam yet to be created, does not excuse making intellectual, let alone moral equivalences, between the severely limited and contextualized war proclamations of the Old Testament, and the permanent proto-jihad war injunctions of the Koran. Staking out the presumptive “higher” moral ground by a thinly veiled (and ahistorical!) attack on a courageous secularist seeking profound, not cosmetic (and meaningless) changes in Islamdom, is unsavory and destructive, regardless of the misguided motivations. * 16: 101: “And when We change (one) communication for (another) communication, and Allah knows best what He reveals, they say: You are only a forger. Nay, most of them do not know.”; 22:52: “And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet, but when he desired, the Shaitan made a suggestion respecting his desire; but Allah annuls that which the Shaitan casts, then does Allah establish His communications, and Allah is Knowing, Wise”; 87:6: “By degrees shall We teach thee to declare (the Message), so thou shalt not forget” The discussion of abrogation/naskh draws heavily upon the insightful analysis, here pp. 67-75, of my courageous mentor and colleague Ibn Warraq.

Everyday, American Congress for Truth (ACT) is a 501c3 non profit organization on the front lines fighting for you in meeting with politicians, decision makers, speaking on college campuses and planning events to educate and inform the public about the threat of radical Muslim fundamentalists to world peace. We are committed to combating the global upsurge of hate and intolerance. To continue and bolster our efforts, we need your continued solidarity, activism and financial support. We are only as strong as our supporters. We thank you for helping us carry on this important work. ACT, P.O.Box 6884, Virginia Beach, VA 23456 Email: info@americancongressfortruth.com